Eight Lakes modernized its entire IT infrastructure in one major project. A massive migration of the network together with fiber optic provider Eurofiber served as the basis for a project in which the entire internal infrastructure was shaken up, a cloud migration took place, laptops were modernized and even the telephone exchange was upgraded. This happened worldwide, in six months. How is that possible?
Jacques Bodenstein, IT Manager of Infrastructure at Eight Lakes, inherited a challenging job. Bodenstein took over a migration project to an SD WAN solution that was completed in 2022, but turned out not to deliver the requirements needed to serve the business and IT platform. That painful migration project was the direct trigger for a big bang modernization in 2024.
Consumer Connectivity
“The network solution we were using did not meet our needs,” Bodenstein said. “For example, link aggregation was not possible, and traffic ran mainly over consumer connections. Some offices had links of barely 40 or 50 megabits.”
That’s not much for a company like Eight Lakes, whose operations include Belgium, the Netherlands, France, the Nordics, Canada and Taiwan. The industrial group consists of several verticals ranging from distribution to engineering and manufacturing companies that not only sell solutions, but also produce them themselves. “For example, we not only offer the solution to enable payments in a parking garage, but we are also involved in the development phase of the devices,” Bodenstein clarified. Despite the critical processes and global footprint, internal connectivity left something to be desired.
Sudden deadline
Late last year, the challenges suddenly became very urgent. Bodenstein: “The connectivity provider informed us that the service would be discontinued in about six months, that is, by June 2024. We had six months to solve the problem.”
We had six months to solve the problem.
Jacques Bodenstein, IT Manager Infrastructure Eight Lakes
Bodenstein resolved not to be satisfied with a stopgap solution, but wanted to take the opportunity to put things in order. Everything started with the network, since that is the foundation of the IT strategy coming on top. “We searched for good providers of professional fiber for businesses and quickly ended up with Eurofiber,” says Bodenstein. “We wanted to move from our customized consumer connectivity to a professional, fast and secure connection, and Eurofiber offers that.”
True SD WAN and total migration
“Then we wanted a real SD WAN solution. Eurofiber itself then proposed Cegeka as a partner and got involved in the whole project. We all sat together as partners, defined the problems, and worked out a solution.”
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Eight Lakes then planned to leverage Eurofiber’s new fiber-optic network infrastructure to renew even more. “What couldn’t be cloud native immediately, we wanted to move to Microsoft Azure via an elevator and shift approach,” Bodenstein clarified. “Everything that could be modernized we did transfer. From file servers, we planned to migrate to Sharepoint and Teams. Following that, we wanted to integrate our PBX into Teams as well, and it had to be moved from Cisco. Finally, we hoped to take the opportunity to migrate all users from Windows 10 to Windows 11.”
For that entire process, Bodenstein and his team of eight people had less than six months. “Everything is connected, so we wanted to do everything at once,” he affirms. After six months of toil, Eight Lakes would wake up in a state-of-the-art connected digital environment.
Connectivity foundation
The entire project began with Eurofiber’s work. Bodenstein: “Eurofiber had to establish the links in the short term at an acceptable price tag. In Breda we already had a connection via Eurofiber, so the migration went smoothly. For most sites Eurofiber was able to deliver as planned. If there were still problems, such as in Antwerp where strong regulation hampered the laying of the fiber-optic lines, Eurofiber always communicated about this quickly and transparently, and the people helped look for solutions.”
“As soon as Eurofiber established a link, Cegeka implemented the site in question in the SD WAN environment,” Bodenstein continues. “That did remain integrated with the old environment during the migration.”
Speed boost
The SD WAN solution on the Eurofiber network produced a difference of night and day. “We can really see and feel it,” beams the IT manager. “For example, the office in France was upgraded from 40 megabits to gigabit links, and we also evolved from 100 megabits to 1,000 megabits in Breda.”
With the fast and reliable network as the foundation, the rest of the migration could begin. “We migrated 25 servers in one day in a big bang approach,” Bodenstein recalls. “In one day, we also migrated 130 laptops to Windows 11. At the same time, we switched to Teams Calling.”
Partners who think along
Bodenstein insists on the importance of having the right partners to complete the titanic work. “We worked with people we knew could deliver. There was a real collaboration between us, Eurofiber and Cegeka. They understood very well what we wanted and thought proactively with us. When a problem arose, and a consultant could solve it, they did so even though it wasn’t part of their job.”
Bodenstein does not deny that it was a lot of work. “My girlfriend wasn’t very happy during that six months,” he laughs. “And leading up to the big bang migration to Azure, I didn’t sleep.” Still, he had no doubts about success. “Maybe it’s because of my South African heritage, but take the decision, and then we executed it. Once we gathered the right people, I knew it was going to work.”
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That vigorous approach worked. “Of course, not everything went completely smoothly,” he adds. “But the problems were manageable. The migration was 95 percent successful. We pulled the Band-Aid off at once, and fixed problems after the fact. And if it turns out that something doesn’t work, but no one complains? Then we immediately discover we didn’t need it.”
Everyone along
Despite the vigorous approach, Bodenstein realizes all too well that a migration stands or falls with the people. Together with partners, change management paths were worked out, proceeding through a few pivotal figures in each department who pulled the cart and then served as the point of contact for everything else.
“End users are not forgiving,” Bodenstein knows. “If things go badly, you don’t come back from that as an IT administrator. At the end, 80 percent of the users were happy with what we delivered. That’s good, one hundred percent you never get.”
“People thought I was crazy to do the migration this way, but we had to move forward. Eight Lakes couldn’t afford to be left behind with legacy systems, ” Bodenstein concludes. After an intense six months, they took a leap forward like this. What started out as a network problem turned out to be a complete redesign of the digital infrastructure. With high-speed B2B fiber-optic connectivity from Eurofiber and a true SD WAN solution as the foundation, Bodenstein was able to accomplish in just six months what often takes other organizations years.